This year's truck tells the story of...Mike Christian, Vietnam POW. The American Flag symbolizes the hope and inspiration that is the essence of everyone and everything in the United States. There is another story that epitomizes the emotion and pride every American feels for the flag and underscores the importance of the Pledge of Allegiance.
The Vietnam War...1971, Prisoners of War (POW's) were moved from isolation and 2 men cells into large rooms at the Hanoi Hilton. One of those prisoners was Mike Christian. Mike came from a very small, poor town in Alabama. He didn't wear a pair of shoes until he was thirteen (13). At seventeen (17), he enlisted in the Navy, later to earn a commission and become a Naval Flying Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967 and served honorable for the next 5 years as a Prisoner of War in Vietnam.
The uniforms the Americans wore were the Vietnamese pajamas, only they were blue and rubber sandals made of automobile tires. Mike made himself a bamboo needle and began collecting some cloth of red and white. Although old, tattered and dingy, the cloth has a purpose. Mike began sewing a makeshift American flag on the inside of his shirt. Once Mike was done, it was the practice of the prisoners that every afternoon before they got their ration of grass or pumpkin soup, Mike would hold the shirt up and the prisoners would recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Repeating the Pledge of Allegiance may not be the most important part of the average American day, but for those men in that stark prison cell. It was the most important and meaningful event of their day.
One day, the Vietnamese searched the cell and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, removed it and him and beat Mike Christian severely for hours. Once they were done, they threw him back in the cell and gave warning to the other prisoners. Mike was not in good shape and near crippled, his comrades tried to comfort and take care of him as best they could. The cell had a concrete slab on which the men slept, a naked light bulb was in each corner of the room. After things had quieted down for the evening, in the corner of the room, sitting beneath that dimly lit bulb with a piece of white cloth, a piece of red cloth and another blue shirt and his bamboo needle, was Mike Christian. His eyes almost swollen shut from the beating, he was fashioning another makeshift American Flag.
Mike Christian was not making that flag because it made him feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was for his fellow prisoners to be able to pledge reverence to god and allegiance to their country.
America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave! |
